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Addiction

As human beings, we all have an innate need for spirituality. Throughout history, the societies that have survived have had some spiritual component included in their culture. Even Neanderthals showed an element of spirituality by burying their dead.

Numerous studies have shown that there is a definite correlation between spirituality and substance abuse; the more spiritually minded a person is, the less likely they were to abuse substances.

Spirituality is at the core of all twelve step programs. Regardless of what an individual determines his or her personal higher power to be, the effect is the same – reduced negativity and increased positive associations.

Spirituality and Religion

Spirituality and religion are not the same. The word “spirit” comes from Latin word “spiritus,” which means “breath.” Someone can be spiritual, but not religious, and vice versa. Religion is an organized belief system, whereas spirituality differs from person to person.

Spirituality is an individual’s fundamental belief in and understanding of a power greater than oneself, whatever that power may be. This spiritual connection brings meaning to human existence and allows for a person to understand his or her world.

Effect of Mediation an Prayer on the Brain

Researchers have attempted to measure and scientifically explain why people who are spiritual are prone to live longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives. Studies have revealed the numerous ways that meditation and prayer affect the brain.

SPECT scans of the brain, which show the amount of blood flow, were done on people while they were meditating and compared it to what their brains looked like normally. During meditation, the area of the brain responsible for spatial orientation and sense of time had a decrease in activity. The theory is that by decreasing awareness of sensory stimuli the person increases the ability to feel free of form and more connected to something larger than oneself.

Other areas of the brain also are affected and have the effect of decreasing negative emotional experiences and increasing positive ones. The thalamus reducing sensory input results in a calming effect. The prefrontal cortex, which is where higher functioning, reasoning and planning are centered, is cleared of chatter and focuses instead on the object of meditative thought. The limbic system’s activity is reduced, which decreases levels of stress, anxiety and fear. Increased empathy and compassion results from an increase in the amount of anterior cingulate activity.

Neurochemical Changes

The neurochemicals dopamine, serotonin and GABA are also increased during meditation and prayer. All three neurochemicals are critical to creating a positive emotional and cognitive state. In essence, they play a vital role in creating happiness, peace and joy.

Serotonin is associated with happiness and a sense of well-being. The elevation of serotonin levels is the target of many anti-depressant drugs.

GABA involves the nervous system and is what dictates anxiety levels. Anti-anxiety drugs manipulate GABA and effectively calm the nervous system and lead to feelings of peace.

Dopamine is associated with reward-motivation aspect of the brain. It is released when something good happens and triggers a cascade of other pleasant neurochemicals that tell the brain to remember the event and to repeat it. It is fundamental to the brain’s ability to assign value, and therefore meaning, to everything that is encountered in life.

Dopamine is also released with drug use, which damages the pathways and normal functioning of this delicate system. Prayer and meditation, however, help build and strengthen new neuropathways and help heal the brain on a rudimentary level.

How it applies to 12 Step Groups

Twelve Step programs are spiritually based and promote meditation or prayer as a mechanism of recovery.

Step Eleven states, “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”

Many who enter a Twelve Step program are weary of religious fanaticism and choose the group itself as a higher power. It is something greater than the individual, and therefore counts.

Becoming aware of a higher power allows people to focus more on the world outside themselves. This world also ceases to seem cold or overwhelming as the individual always has a higher power and the group to rely on.

The group has a common goal, to stay abstinent from all mood and mind altering substances. The nature of this teaching is to be nonjudgmental of others, giving everyone involved an increased sense of comfort and belonging. Because of this, the individual’s personal higher power is accepted, whatever it may be.

The group aspect of the program allows for the individual to gain human connection, which is typically nonexistent while a person is intoxicated. The social support triggers the release of oxytocin, the neurochemical responsible for feelings of attachment, comfort, and is associated with “love at first sight.”

The principles of Twelve Step groups help bring members closer together and increase well-being and reduce stress, which itself is often a trigger for relapse. These principles, such as humility, honesty, integrity, faith, and brotherly love, help promote human connection. The program is a healthy support network that brings people together and promotes positive relationships.

Conclusion

The disease of addiction is said to be comprised of three characters: an allergy of the body, an obsession of the mind, and a spiritual malady. The bodily intolerance is remedied with abstinence. The obsession of the mind is relieved through working the Twelve Steps and cleaning up the wreckage of the past. The spiritual malady is remedied with prayer and meditation.

“As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. we constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day “Thy will be done.” We are then much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves.” Alcoholics Anonymous, (pp. 87-88)

The founders of Alcoholics Anonymous realized that addiction is centered in the mind and cannot be overcome with the same diseased organ. More than the individual, working alone, is needed to truly make peace with the past and forge forward into a bright and happy future.

The consequences of addiction are harmful and destructive for everyone involved.

The problem may be excruciatingly obvious for family and friends, but for the person struggling with addiction, the problem may be impossible to comprehend.

There is much speculation regarding the root cause of addiction. Regardless of how it starts, the psychological effects of addiction can be devastating.

The implications to cognition often present with denial, distorted, obsessive and grandiose thinking.

Cognitive Complications

The effect on cognition can be devastating. The parts of the brain that are associated with addiction are also involved in memory, learning, and reasoning.

The effect is twofold; it both damages neural connections and alters other connections in such a way that the addictive substance’s pleasurable effect is basically burned into the user’s memory.

This effect can make it difficult for the person to recover, but with abstinence the brain will heal. The healing process just takes time.

Denial

Denial of the addiction is extremely common and, unfortunately, is not something that everyone overcomes.

The denial might manifest itself as a student who abuses a prescription for ADHD amphetamines and tells themselves that it is medicine and they need to take more than prescribed.

The denial is a defense mechanism that allows the person who is using to continue to do so. The drug user’s brain is actually telling him or her to deny that there is any problem because the brain actually believes that it needs the drug to survive.

The person may fear admitting being addicted because then they believe that they will have to stop using. The person may attempt to convince themselves and others that they do not have a problem, however, that in and of itself indicates that there is in fact a problem.

The problem is actually in the mind of the user and he or she will need help seeing the situation for what it is.

Distorted Thinking

Distorted thinking is a given with people who are suffering from the disease of addiction. The diseased brain tells the person that all that matters is the drink or drug.

There are many ways that thinking may be distorted. The thought process may fall into such categories as generalizing, catastrophizing, blaming, personalizing, and “all-or-nothing” thinking.

The person’s thinking is often elaborately distorted, both in how they view themselves and in how they believe others view them. The distorted thinking usually works to excuse negative behavior, such as using drugs and alcohol to excess.

The addicted person may even believe that no one is being harmed by his or her use of alcohol or drugs.

Obsessive Thinking

Obsession occurs in cases of addiction. The addicted person may spend all resources to obtain the substance of abuse. This often manifests in a complete takeover of the user’s life by the substance.

Eventually, it is all that the person thinks about and everything else is seen through a lens of how their using is perceived, whether their drug of choice is welcome or opposed, and whether a person, place or thing helps obtain more. A person who is using may change friends, jobs, and anything else that is seen as a threat to his or her using.

Grandiosity

The addicted person often feels that they desperately need the substance, even to survive. Due to this extreme emotional attachment to the substance, the person may believe that everyone should work to help them obtain more or, at the very least, not stand in their way.

Grandiose thinking is characterized by the belief that what matters to the individual must be of the upmost importance to everyone else. This thought pattern is best described as exceptionally selfish and self-centered.

The person may truly believe that their needs are as important to everyone else as they are to themselves. Everything is about them. Grandiosity is often a companion to obsessive thinking, with which thoughts are centered on the substance of abuse.

Hope for the Hopeless

A person that is addicted and actively abusing a substance can be extremely difficult to communicate with openly, honestly, and productively.

For people suffering from the disease of addiction and their loved ones, the more that is known about the disease, the better the chances for recovery.